Louis/Dressner Selections

2024 Harvest Reports Coming Soon!

2024 Harvest Reports Coming Soon!

Tips For Navigating the Website.

How to navigate the website.

Desktop vs Mobile: We know people use their phones a lot, so we've worked hard on ensuring the site functions well on mobile devices. Having said that, we recommend using a laptop/desktop to optimally peruse our content.  Glossary: At its core, this has always been a website written for wine professionals *attempting* to glean information on the wines we import - and hopefully see a picture of the vigneron's dog. Since the jargon can be so technical, we've added an <glossary term="glossary" title="1427">interactive glossary</glossary> to the text for those unfamiliar with the baffllingly complex world of wine terminology. Even if you're a seasoned pro, you might learn a thing or two. And if you'd rather read the content without the glossary, simply head to the main menu bar and turn it off.   "Our Wines" Section:  In the "Our Wines" section, we've offered a variety of filter categories for you to explore and discover all the cuvées we import. These filters can be combined together to narrow down results. If you hit a wall with no results, simply erase one of the filters or clear all filters.  Technical Information For Each Wine: 78% of the wines we import have extremely detailed technical information when clicked on, dare I say the most technical anywhere on the internet. Half of these are probably woefully outdated. Search: If you know what producer or wine you are searching for, the search should quickly autofill what you need. Go ahead, give it a whirl. You can also hit enter after searching and skup the autofill. Hyperlinks/PDFs: Every single piece of content on the website has its own hyperlink. This means you can easily share a specific producer page, article, wine or filter combination with anyone. You can also save or print out PDF's bt clicking the PDF icon. Copy/Paste: Due to the website's design, if you need to copy/paste anything, the glossary needs to be turned off for the text to paste correctly. We recommend using the PDF feature instead.  Also, if you are going to straight up use our writing verbatim, PLEASE credit us when doing so. Seems obvious but we see it happen all the time.  A Shit-Ton of Written Content: The articles themselves can often be very long, and for this reason we developed a Propriety Pop Up System™ where you can easily scroll through various articles/wines and "pop out" to efficiently look at the rest of the content. We've tried our best to pack as many dog pictures as possible in there, but the digital ink has been spilled: the cumulation of decades' worth of writings from Joe, Denyse, Kevin and Jules is here for you to read. A huge part of the work with this new website was to find better ways to condense and extract essential information you need without getting lost in all that BORING text.  We still think you should check it out. Don't worry, there are plenty of pictures. And you might even find the writing interesting. Or funny. Or both.

EXPLORE

producer profile 29.04.2024

Las Vedras Producer Profile

Sónia Raposo was working in the HR sector for a large pharmaceutical company and experiencing the inevitable corporate career angst. Concurrently, she was finding an interest in wine - visiting producers, attending consumer tastings and some <glossary term="WSET" title="1127">WSET</glossary> classes - to the point where she began teaching some of the courses. By 2012 she was also interning at wineries in <glossary term="Alentejo" title="1259">Alentejo</glossary> and elsewhere in Portugal. In 2013 she met Pedro Marques in attendance with his family <glossary term="Estate" title="427">estate</glossary>, Vale da Capucha. From there, her interest in more honest, real wines took off. Ultimately, apart from the small things like a marriage and a family, the goal became to start a winemaking project together. In the beginning, they purchased a small amount of grapes from farmers they knew worked their vineyards well to see the potential of the vines before entering a rental agreement. The project eventually evolved into their own wines under the Las Vedras (“the old ones”) label. Initally they started making the wine at Pedro’s family’s winery, but recently have moved their operation to a new <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary> in the village of Pero Negro. At first, the couple felt a bit isolated working in <glossary term="Torres Vedras" title="1486">Torres Vedras</glossary>, as it has a reputation for high production, poor quality <glossary term="Viticulture" title="1103">viticulture</glossary>. Case in point: besides themselves and Vale da Capucha, there isn't a single <glossary term="Organic" title="746">organic</glossary> producer in the <glossary term="DOC" title="1156">DOC</glossary> <glossary term="Torres Vedras" title="1486">Torres Vedras</glossary>. With the work they are doing, however, other like-minded producers are beginning to take note and interest in the area.  <glossary term="Torres Vedras" title="1486">Torres Vedras</glossary>, roughly an hour north of <glossary term="Lisbon" title="1262">Lisbon</glossary>, lies close at the foot of the Serra de Montejunto, the highest ridge of mountains in the Estremedura region of <glossary term="Lisbon" title="1262">Lisbon</glossary>; these act as a barrier to some of the prevailing winds, which, depending on the annual conditions, can either benefit or harm the vineyard. From this area, Sónia and Pedro work multiple vineyard sites. With these windy conditions, the <glossary term="Pruning" title="834">pruning</glossary> system is traditionally a type of short-<glossary term="Pruning" title="834">pruned</glossary> <glossary term="Gobelet" title="497">goblet</glossary> called Asas de Mosca (“fly wings”) for the shape of the tying. Walking distance from the <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary>, the couple's largest <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> lies within the <glossary term="DOC" title="1156">DOC</glossary> of <glossary term="Torres Vedras" title="1486">Torres Vedras</glossary>, in the village of Pero Negro. At 1.5 <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">ha</glossary>, it is comprised of smaller <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plots</glossary> within the larger <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary>, indicative of what the region was before commercial production invaded. A white and a red wine named after the village, Pero Negro, are produced from this land. One of the smaller plots, a <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> that was not previously farmed very well, is planted with the whites of <glossary term="Fernão Pires" title="1235">Fernão Pires</glossary> and <glossary term="Palomino" title="1487">Palomino</glossary>, known locally as Seminario and Malvasia Rei, and the reds of <glossary term="Castelão" title="1228">Castelão</glossary> and <glossary term="Tinta Miuda" title="1230">Tinta Miuda</glossary>. The paperwork on the <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> says it was planted in 1993, but the owner thinks it is actually 50-60 years old. They began the <glossary term="Conversion" title="332">conversion</glossary> to <glossary term="Organic" title="746">organic</glossary> in 2019. From another proximate farmer, Sónia and Pedro purchase grapes that produce a wine called "Corriente". The soils here are <glossary term="Limestone" title="596">limestone</glossary> and <glossary term="Clay" title="301">clay</glossary> of oceanic origin and have a high <glossary term="PH" title="783">PH</glossary>. The couple has begun sowing <glossary term="Cover Crop" title="1255">cover crops</glossary> here to increase organic matter, open up the soil and drive down the <glossary term="PH" title="783">PH</glossary> level.  The next  <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary>, in the village of Portela do Bispo -or Bishop’s Portal- lies in between the two <glossary term="DOC" title="1156">DOC</glossary>’s of <glossary term="Torres Vedras" title="1486">Torres Vedras</glossary> and <glossary term="Arruda" title="1488">Arruda</glossary>. It is a two <glossary term="Are" title="1208">ares</glossary> <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plot</glossary> of 80 year-old vines planted mainly with <glossary term="Tinta Miuda" title="1230">Tinta Miuda</glossary> and a bit of <glossary term="Castelão" title="1228">Castelão</glossary>, <glossary term="Syrah" title="1001">Syrah</glossary>, <glossary term="Touriga Nacional" title="1229">Touriga Nacional </glossary>and some unknown white grapes. The <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> faces north towards the Montejunto Serras and can be exposed to some high winds. It is more of the oceanic <glossary term="Clay" title="301">clay</glossary>-<glossary term="Limestone" title="596">limestone</glossary> soil planted in verry narrow rows, since it pre-dates <glossary term="Mechanization" title="645">mechanization</glossary>. 2020 was the first <glossary term="Vintage" title="1109">vintage</glossary> from this  <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plot</glossary>, yielding one 500L <glossary term="Barrel" title="142">barrel</glossary>. Like in Pero Negro, Sónia and Pedro have begun planting <glossary term="Cover Crop" title="1255">cover crops</glossary> here as well. The third <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary>, Dois Portos, or Two Ports, is in the <glossary term="DOC" title="1156">DOC</glossary> <glossary term="Torres Vedras" title="1486">Torres Vedras</glossary>. Sónia and Pedro began working this <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> in 2022, making a small amount of wine  that year. It is again a two <glossary term="Are" title="1208">ares</glossary> <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plot</glossary> planted mostly to <glossary term="Tinta Miuda" title="1230">Tinta Miuda</glossary> and surrounded by stone fruit trees. Sónia and Pedro are generally striving not to add any <glossary term="Sulfites" title="993">sulfites</glossary> to the process, but are not dogmatic given the current varying conditions at <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary>, namely rain. Right now, they have not had to add any to any of the wines, even before <glossary term="Bottling" title="185">bottling</glossary>. Four wines are currently produced: Vino Branco Limo: from a <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> planted and worked by the late Antonio Carvalho of Casal Figueira and some friends in Bombarral a bit north of Pero Negro. 40% French <glossary term="Varietal" title="1071">varietals</glossary> that Antonio planted - <glossary term="Roussanne" title="878">Roussanne</glossary>, <glossary term="Marsanne" title="634">Marsanne</glossary>, <glossary term="Sémillon" title="1003">Semillon </glossary>and <glossary term="Petit Manseng" title="779">Petit Manseng</glossary>. The rest is <glossary term="Fernão Pires" title="1235">Fernão Pires</glossary>, <glossary term="Arinto" title="1233">Arinto</glossary> and <glossary term="Vital" title="1429">Vital</glossary>. Short <glossary term="Maceration" title="610">skin soak</glossary> then <glossary term="Pressing" title="827">pressed</glossary> into <glossary term="Stainless Steel" title="986">stainless vats</glossary>. Pero Negro Branco: The fruit comes from a small lower <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> at the bottom of the hill. <glossary term="Fernão Pires" title="1235">Fernão Pires</glossary> and <glossary term="Palomino" title="1487">Palomino</glossary> (known locally as Malvasia Rei). One day <glossary term="Maceration" title="610">maceration</glossary>, <glossary term="Pressing" title="827">pressed</glossary> and <glossary term="Fermentation" title="441">fermented</glossary> in <glossary term="Barrel" title="142">tonneau</glossary> of 500L, then two years <glossary term="Aging" title="74">aging</glossary> in the <glossary term="Barrel" title="142">barrels</glossary>. Vinho Tinto Corriente: a traditional blend of <glossary term="Castelão" title="1228">Castelão</glossary> and <glossary term="Tinta Miuda" title="1230">Tinta Miuda</glossary> from the aforementioned neighbor’s vineyard. The grapes are all <glossary term="Whole-Cluster" title="1124">whole-cluster</glossary>, with half going into the <glossary term="Vat/Tank" title="1140">vat</glossary> in <glossary term="Whole-Cluster" title="1124">whole-bunches</glossary> and the rest <glossary term="Foot-Treading" title="458">foot trod</glossary>, followed by a short five to seven day <glossary term="Maceration" title="610">maceration</glossary>.  Pero Negro Tinto: <glossary term="Castelão" title="1228">Castelão</glossary> (<glossary term="Whole-Cluster" title="1124">whole-cluster</glossary>) and <glossary term="Tinta Miuda" title="1230">Tinta Miuda</glossary> (<glossary term="De-stemming" title="378">destemmed</glossary> as they feel this variety’s stems are not pleasing). <glossary term="Fermentation" title="441">Fermented</glossary> and <glossary term="Aging" title="74">aged</glossary> in 500L <glossary term="Barrel" title="142">barrel</glossary>. In previous <glossary term="Vintage" title="1109">vintages</glossary>, the <glossary term="Aging" title="74">aging</glossary> lasted two years. Moving forward, this will change, as they think this wine should spend less time in <glossary term="Wood" title="1126">wood</glossary>. They inted the newer <glossary term="Vintage" title="1109">vintages</glossary> to be fresher, but <glossary term="Tinta Miuda" title="1230">Tinta Miuda</glossary> will always need more time in <glossary term="Barrel" title="142">barrel</glossary>.

producer profile 07.03.2024

Mattia Carfagna Producer Profile

We first met Mattia Carfagna in 2011, when a small group of us were marooned on the island of <glossary term="Giglio" title="491">Giglio</glossary>. At the time, Mattia was working at the Altura winery with his father Francesco and cooking at their seasonal family restaurant Arcobaleno. To this day, I vividly remember the fresh anchovies he served us with the 2010, 2009 and 2008 Altura <glossary term="Ansonaco" title="106">Ansonaco</glossary>. We’d see him again in 2015 at our New York City October trade show, then a few years later in Paris, where he’d decamped to go cook professionally. By then, he'd left the kitchen to start importing specialty Italian foods. Over constant, lengthy road trips from Paris to Italy to re-up on goods, Mattia began making a habit of visiting his vignerons friends in the <glossary term="Auvergne" title="128">Auvergne</glossary>. Quickly falling in love with the region, he originally envisioned having a second home there. Then, in 2019, a chance opportunity came from his friends Catherine Dumora and Manuel Duveau of L’Egrapille: having recently separated, the couple were no longer using their communal <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary> and asked Mattia if he wanted to rent it along with some adjacent land for 250 euros a month. That same year, Mattia made a tiny amount of wine in the <glossary term="Auvergne" title="128">Auvergne</glossary>. His sister Irene poured it for us at Altura’s table during the 2020 <glossary term="Dive Bouteille" title="395">Dive Bouteille</glossary>. Our interest was piqued. We’d meant to get in touch but got somewhat distracted by the pandemic and resulting lockdowns of March 2020: a time that upended and changed everyone’s life one way or the other. For Mattia, with no restaurants to sell to, his food business was done. Strapped for cash and needing to leave Paris, he and his girlfriend Chiara decamped to the <glossary term="Auvergne" title="128">Auvergne</glossary>, where for over a year they lived in Catherine and Manu’s <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary> with no electricity, using gas burners to cook and showering without hot water. During that time, Mattia started tending the tiny <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plots</glossary> of land he was renting as well as asking local owners if he could rent their abandoned <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcels</glossary>. Some said no, others yes. That year, Carfagna managed to start working nine tiny <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcels</glossary> owned by seven separate owners, all very old vines and previously abandoned. Totaling little more than a single <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectare</glossary> combined, most of these micro-<glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plots </glossary>are within a <glossary term="Cru" title="1152">cru</glossary> of the <glossary term="Auvergne" title="128">Auvergne</glossary> <glossary term="AOC" title="108">AOP</glossary> called Châteaugay. There is no <glossary term="Basalt" title="145">basalt</glossary> here, though volcanic chunks of <glossary term="Peperite" title="1485">peperite</glossary> mark the <glossary term="Clay" title="301">clay</glossary> heavy <glossary term="Terroir" title="1026">terroir</glossary>. One <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plot</glossary> within Châteaugay happens to be purely <glossary term="Limestone" title="596">limestone</glossary>, and a final <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> in a nearby village grows on <glossary term="Basalt" title="145">basalt</glossary> soils (it's also completly surrounded by the suburban housing of <glossary term="Clermont-Ferrand" title="302">Clermont-Ferrand</glossary>, with the city visible from the vineyard).  An inestimable amount of work was and continues to be needed to get the land back into shape; during a January 2023 visit, we saw one <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plot</glossary> so completely overrun by thorns and shrubbery you had to squint to see the vines. For Mattia, this is a labor of love, passion and patience - honestly, it has to be seen to be believed.  From these <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plots</glossary>, a <glossary term="Gamay d'Auvergne" title="1308">Gamay d’Auvergne</glossary> called “Le Serail" is produced. With vines averaging 80 to 100 years old and <glossary term="Yield" title="1129">yields</glossary> at a measly 10-14<glossary term="hl/ha" title="528">hl/ha</glossary>, production is unsurprisingly very low. Knowing he could not survive producing just one wine, in 2020 Mattia reached out to <glossary term="Vigneron/Vignaiolo" title="1089">vigneron</glossary> friends across France for grapes to make supplemental <glossary term="Cuvée" title="363">cuvées</glossary>. This landed him in the <glossary term="Hérault" title="525">Hérault</glossary>, where Jeff Coutelou helped him buy fruit. In 2022, chance struck again: through Coutelou, Mattia was able to rent 3.5 <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectares</glossary> in the <glossary term="Languedoc" title="579">Languedoc </glossary>on the hills of <glossary term="Faugères" title="1387">Faugères</glossary>. A 3+ hour drive from Châteaugay, Coutelou’s team tends the vines year-round, with Mattia present for crucial moments like <glossary term="Pruning" title="834">pruning</glossary> and <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary>. From the <glossary term="Languedoc" title="579">Languedoc</glossary>, he mostly farms <glossary term="Viognier" title="1111">Viognier</glossary> and a smaller amount of <glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenache Noir </glossary>and <glossary term="Muscat Petits Grains" title="699">Muscat Petits Grains</glossary>. The grapes are trucked back and <glossary term="Vinification" title="1104">vinified</glossary> in the <glossary term="Auvergne" title="128">Auvergne</glossary>, with an “Italian style” <glossary term="Maceration" title="610">macerated</glossary> white wine and a <glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenache</glossary>/<glossary term="Viognier" title="1111">Viognier</glossary> <glossary term="Blend" title="168">blend</glossary> produced at the time of this writing. Mattia’s means in the <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary> are limited to <glossary term="Fiberglass" title="445">fiberglass</glossary> and an an old <glossary term="Concrete" title="325">concrete</glossary> <glossary term="Vat/Tank" title="1140">tank</glossary> for the time being, though he hopes to grow and evolve the types of <glossary term="Vessel" title="1160">vessels</glossary> and <glossary term="Vinification" title="1104">vinification</glossary> techniques over time. Each year the wines are made by instinct over formula, with the names and the labels often changing to reflect the unique aspect of the <glossary term="Vintage" title="1109">vintage</glossary>. For more information and pictures of those crazy aformentioned vines, please read our visit recap below (COMING SOON).